Gray Eyes
by Griffin Stone
Summary: (Character death, you have been warned.) Nereus' eyes used to be blue. A curious fact, but one the Nektons didn't think meant anything. Nobody realizes just what this indicates, and nobody sees the connection when Ant's eyes start to fade.
1. Blue to Gray

**A/N: I got distracted again. Anyway, this is an idea I've had since discovering Nereus is 6,000+ years old.**

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Nereus' eyes used to be blue.

Nobody quite knew what to think of that, not even Nereus. He didn't recall having blue eyes, so perhaps it was a mistake in the records. Perhaps a scribe wanting to liven up details of their prince.

After a few months of research, Will made a tentative guess: Lemurian magic.

Lemurian magic had a price. Nobody knew the extent because nobody used it to extreme lengths. A dabble here for beauty, a dabble there for strength. Always giving, yet always taking from somewhere else.

A bit of strength for beauty. Maybe some of your beauty to be strong. Nothing much, and few really saw the cost before the end of their lives.

The aging spell was rather ironic. Taking from one's life force to extend it. Never a way to live forever, but thousands of years was pretty close.

See, Lemurians lived as long as the average person. Nereus, at some point in his decades of missing memories, had performed an ancient spell to lengthen his life in his search for his sister and, in later years, following the Nekton family.

For the life of him, though, Nereus couldn't remember what spell could have taken his eye color. But, perhaps, they'd always been gray.

The Nektons soon forgot the topic of Lemurian magic and its price. Nereus would be around for generations to come and no Lemurian spellcasters still lived. There were more immediate, present things in the ancient city to study, so there was no reason to research Lemurian magic.

Right?

They were wrong. If the Nektons had looked a little further, they would have found an extreme danger right in their own small crew.

Maybe, in the end, it wouldn't have made a difference. It wasn't like they'd had an alternative, anyway, but maybe… just maybe, they could have done something different.

Maybe they would have worried when Ant's eyes started to fade.

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**A/N: I've got five chapters, and it'll be a chapter a day!**


	2. Brown to Gray

It takes two years for the game to change.

Two years of travel and adventure. Two years of tracking Monumentials and putting them back to sleep.

There was a lot. Because people were exploring further and deeper, more Monumential resting places were being disturbed.

Some Monumentials, Kaiko theorizes, could be left awake. The turtle, for example, was easy enough to notice and avoid. Others were the same, sometimes going deep underwater and just plain not surfacing.

Eventually, though, they have to admit that wouldn't work. Six thousand years ago, possibly. But there simply isn't enough places for the Monumentials to stay in peace. It will be easier for everyone if they continued to sleep.

It doesn't make tracking the Monumentials easy, though. The Ephemychron only led them to where the Monumentials _should_ be. The Nektons are led by reports to the WWOA and their world-wide contacts.

Finn is quite helpful in this regard. He'd given up pirating around a year after the Nektons first found Lemuria. He keeps an eye on the Dark Orca, though. This is especially helpful since the pirates are ridiculously adept at finding -and sometimes waking if Ant hadn't taken care of them- Monumentials.

By the two-year anniversary of finding Lemuria, though, most of the Monumentials are back into a deep sleep. Not even the most annoying pirate will be able to wake them for some time.

It is a busy anniversary week, more so because the latest Monumential roused a friend before Ant could stop it. Ant's more drained than normal, surprising no one. It's been awhile since he used the Scepter so much in one week, so nobody's worried.

Even when he rouses and Fontaine thinks his eyes were… dimmer, maybe, nobody worries. The now fifteen-year old bounced back from many things; using an ancient Scepter was nothing. He just needs some sleep.

Nobody worries too much… even Will finds Ant unconscious in the hall the next day. His vitals are so weak, Will can't find a pulse until Ant's hooked to a monitor.

Even then, everyone thinks he's just caught an illness or something. Being drained from using the Scepter left him vulnerable to sickness, that was all.

Nobody worries too much. Until Ant's eyes open and they look -really look- at his eyes for the first time in too long. They find gray irises staring back at them.

Then they worry.

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**A/N: Finn's here because he's my favorite. 0w0**


	3. Take a Break

See, all Lemurian magic has a price. Nobody could have guessed the cost of each use of the Scepter.

Ant has to stop, they know. They fear he's already crossed some point of no return, but that doesn't mean they can't try.

The Nektons drop all missions, tell the WWOA to deal with a few pestering Monumentials that were irritants but not dangerous, leave keeping the pirates in check in Finn's capable hands. They leave to cruise the ocean with no worries, nothing to do but rest and study without danger.

Ant is predictably against the idea, says he lives for danger and there were still Monumentials out there. But he follows his family's urgings and doesn't dash off for his own adventures.

He doesn't touch the Scepter, either. Two years of using it, and Ant is still wary of the artifact. Perhaps, somehow, he'd known.

For a time, all is well. The Nektons finally have some time to themselves, a luxury they hadn't even noticed was absent until they have nothing but time.

Ant improves. He never regains all his usual energy, but he instigates small ventures reminiscent of the old days. His eyes remain gray, but the Nektons take hope in his growing strength.

Predictably, it couldn't last.


	4. Breaking Point

Everything changes on Ant's sixteenth birthday.

They really thought that Hammerhead could stay out of trouble for one day, so they pull Finn from his pirate-watching duties. The teen -now a young man- has grown on them all, and he really needs a break.

The cake hadn't even been cut when they got the call from the WWOA. Pirates in the Denmark Strait. Sudden seismic shifts. Landmasses were crumbling and the ocean was rolling like a pot set to boil.

Only one thing could cause such changes: a Monumential. And with the location and extent of damage, it didn't take long to determine which Monumential had been roused.

In his search for treasure, Hammerhead had managed to awaken the sea worm Monumential. The massive, unpredictable Monumential that had nearly broken the Nekton family in the past while still sleeping. It is awake and angry and…

You didn't even need to think to know the damage would be disastrous. Continent-splitting disastrous.

Still, Will and Kaiko hesitate. How could they send Ant against that? He'd only started to recover. They don't know his limits yet. Surely, this would be too much.

Fontaine is talking, calculating. They've come up with more obscure solutions to worse solutions in the past. Surely, there's something?

Finn, for his part, can only wish his father would see there were lines nobody crossed.

Ant leaves the room, seemingly ending the conversation.

Except, he returns five minutes later, a gleam in his gray eyes and the Scepter in hand.


	5. Gray to White

They find the Dark Orca in the former resting place of the Monumential. Gain directions from shaky pirates, and turn their backs on the thorns in their sides they should have dealt with years earlier.

It's too late to change the past. There's only time to wonder at the _what if_s as they follow a trail of destruction.

_What if_ they'd moved slower?

_What if_ the world could have worked around the Monumentials?

_What if_ they'd never opened Lemuria's gates?

They find it, munching away in a reef. It looks so natural, they can't help but entertain some more _what if_s.

_What if_ they left the Monumential?

_What if_ it adapted?

_What if_ the ecosystem adapted to this mega-eater?

_What if_s are left behind as the Monumential moves on, hungry after devouring a coral reef and it's gleaming inhabitants.

There's no room for _what if_. Only for action.

Ant goes to the front, standing tall. He wears the Jorange, having learned in the past that it was an easy way to keep water handy for the Scepter.

And if having his best friend at his back makes him stand straighter, well, nobody's going to begrudge him that.

Will stands at Ant's back, as he always has in the past. This time, Kaiko joins them, leaving Nereus at the wheel. Either parent has a hand on Ant's shoulder. Fontaine stands on Ant's left and, after a moment of hesitation, Finn goes to his right.

Ant doesn't ask why they're there.

They wish he would tell them to back off. Laugh off their frowns.

Ant is silent. His eyes close as he lifts the Scepter. Jeffrey obligingly splashes the artifact, causing it to light up.

The process seems to take forever. It's too long, too much, too little strength in Ant's shaking body. The Monumential fights back. Ant's winning, but can he hold out long enough?

The creature thrashes, and a breathless cry escapes Ant.

Knees hit the deck, but Ant's arms stay up. Somebody screams and hands try to take the Scepter. Ant's grip is strong, though. He refuses to release the Scepter until the Monumential is still.

Only then does he let go.

Only then does he open his eyes.

He's still awake, but his eyes are white. Pure white.

The Scepter slips from pale hands, clattering to the deck. Under normal circumstances, there would have been a few winces at possible damage, but everyone's watching a damaged Ant.

He's smiling his tired smile, blank eyes fixed seemingly ahead. A wet sound comes from his throat, and blood drops from his nose to the floor.

Kaiko's suggestion to go to the infirmary dies on her lips. Nobody would have heard her, anyway. Everyone knows.

Too long.

Too much.

Too little strength.

Ant doesn't fall to the floor, but only because Will's hugging him too tightly. Kaiko cards her fingers through his hair and tells him how heroic he is. Fontaine clutches his hand, while Finn hugs her and stares into white eyes. Nereus takes the Jorange and kicks the Scepter away to set Jeffrey at the boy's knees.

Nobody's sure when the labored breathing stops. Only that, at some point, the room suddenly feels too big and quiet.

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**A/N: ... 'kay, bye.**


End file.
